Like the brine in hams, it is not uncommon to see the addition of air, lots of air, in ice and industrial sorbets.
The change of state from liquid to solid in the process of making ice cream or sorbets implies a natural increase of the final volume. It has a volume swell of roughly 10% for ice cream and 15% for sorbet. This is what we call the natural abundance.
The manufacturing processes for ice cream and sorbets now allow to add air into the preparation. By adding air, premium ice cream manufacturers could be in search of a particular texture. After a certain level, it becomes something else ...
You can notice this addition of artificial air in the ice cream you buy just by looking at the weight/volume ratio, e.g. 500ml/430g.
If the weight or volume is not mentioned, it must be an omission...
Sikou ice cream and sorbets contain between 0 and 5% of added air. In the past our contains of ice cream were filled by hand, but given the higher demand this was no longer feasible. The new equipment that allows us to fill semi-automatically the containers also has its limits: when the density of the ice is too high, we are obliged to add up to 5% air.